Brinton Averil Smith, Cello & Evelyn Chen, Piano

Critics have hailed cellist Brinton Averil Smith as a “virtuoso cellist with few equals,” describing him as “a proponent of old-school string playing such as that of Piatigorsky and Heifetz.” Reviewing his recent live recording of the revival of Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Cello Concerto, BBC Music magazine wrote, “his is a cast iron technique of verve and refinement put entirely at the service of the music. The artistry on display here is breathtaking...” His debut recording of Miklós Rózsa’s Concerto with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra won similar international acclaim, with Gramophone praising Smith as a “hugely eloquent, impassioned soloist,” while the American Record Guide praised his recording of chamber music of Fauré with Gil Shaham as “stunningly beautiful.”

Mr. Smith's engagements have included performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and recital and concerto appearances both internationally and throughout the United States. His broadcast performances include CBS's Sunday Morning and regular appearances on NPR’s Performance Today and SymphonyCast, while his live performances have been viewed over one million times on YouTube. As a chamber musician, Smith has collaborated with cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Harrell, pianists Yefim Bronfman, Emanuel Ax, Jeffrey Kahane and Kirill Gerstein, violinists Gil Shaham, James Ehnes, Cho-Liang Lin, and Sarah Chang, and members of the Guarneri, Emerson, Juilliard, Cleveland, and Berg quartets. Previously a member of the New York Philharmonic, and the principal cellist of the San Diego and Fort Worth symphonies, Mr. Smith has been the principal cellist of the Houston Symphony since 2005.

Hailed by the New York Times as "a pianist to watch," Evelyn Chen’s engagements include performances at David Geffen Hall and Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Wolf Trap, Mozarteum in Salzburg, the National Concert Hall in Taipei, the Cultural Center of Hong Kong, Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. 

A Steinway Artist, Ms. Chen has performed with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and the State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico. Ms. Chen’s recordings received international critical acclaim, and her recording of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerti with Leonard Slatkin and the Philharmonia Orchestra was among the top ten best-selling classical recordings in the UK. Ms. Chen has been winner of several international competitions including First Prize in the Bach International Competition in Washington DC and the 1994 Petschek Award at the Juilliard School, where she received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree after receiving a Bachelor of Arts in composition from Harvard University and a Masters of Music from New England Conservatory. Ms. Chen is currently Associate Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York City.